Idris Elba as a cowboy? I mean who wouldn’t be sold? Overall, Concrete Cowboy is a solid film based on the real life Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in Philadelphia. It’s a mix of fictionalizing the club with a (sometimes stereotypical) story of a young teen reconnecting with his father. Caleb McLaughlin plays Cole, a troubled teen that is sent by his mother to live with his father Harp (Idris Elba), in a last ditch effort to get Cole to turn his life around.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
Concrete Cowboy is one of those films that is solid but could have been so much more if given to directors and writers with a bit more lived experience with the subject. There are times where it feels that this film tries to handle more complex issues and the script just wasn’t equipped for that. Where this film works is when it focus on the story of Fletcher Street and the riding community. This film uses actual members of the community in some of the roles and they such a good job that it migh
